ALBANIA ACTIVELY PURSUING COMPLETION OF NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L TIRANA 000024

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/SCE:JERRY ISMAIL AND EUR/RPM:DMITRY VOVCHUK

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO AL
SUBJECT: ALBANIA ACTIVELY PURSUING COMPLETION OF NATO
RATIFICATIONS

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen Cristina for reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d)


1. (C) Summary. The Government of Albania has begun domestic
ratification of their NATO accession and expects to have it
completed by mid-February. They will then wait for the
official invitation to deposit their ratification in
Washington. The Albanian MFA has been actively following
progress in other countries and has remained in regular
contact with Allies to urge quick ratification. According to
the GOA's count (listed below),six allies have deposited
their ratifications, eleven have ratified but not yet
deposited, and nine have not yet officially completed
ratification. Of those, MFA NATO Director Agim Fagu is most
concerned about Greece, France and Belgium. End Summary.

ALBANIA RATIFICATION
--------------


2. (U) In early December 2008, the Albanian MFA completed the
draft ratification of NATO protocols and sent them to the
Ministries of Defense, Justice and Finance for approval. To
date, the MoD has approved and signed the protocols. The
Ministries of Finance and Justice have not signed the
protocols yet, but have informed the MFA that their approvals
are almost complete. After these approvals are received, the
MFA will submit the ratification documents to Parliament for
approval. There is broad support across political parties
for NATO membership, so ratification in Parliament is
expected to take only a few days. Fagu expects the entire
process to be completed by the middle of February, after
which the GOA will wait for an official invitation from the
NATO SYG to deposit their ratification.

ALLIES' RATIFICATION
--------------


3. (C) The MFA has been closely following ratification in
other countries as well and has remained in regular contact
with Allies to urge passage. According to Albania's count,
as of January 13, the following have deposited ratifications:

- Hungary
- Latvia
- USA
- Lithuania
- Poland
- Bulgaria

The following countries have completed their ratifications,
but have not yet deposited them:

- Romania
- Slovakia
- Turkey
- Norway
- Estonia
- Denmark
- Czech Republic
- Spain
- Germany
- Italy
- UK

All others have not completed ratification yet. Of those
states, Albania has the following information:

- Portugal: Fagu claimed that Portugal has completed
ratification, but is waiting for DefMin's Oketa's visit to
Lisbon later this month to publicly announce this.

- Slovenia: Has informed the Albanian MFA that its parliament
will complete ratification January 26.

- Netherlands: The government has sent the ratification
protocols to Parliament, and the lower body of parliament -
the House of Representatives - approved on December 12, 2008.
The upper house - the Senate - is expected to approve
ratification in mid-January.

- Canada: Ratification does not have to pass through the
Canadian parliament. PM Harper has passed the protocols to
parliament for 21 days of debate, but only as a gesture of
goodwill. According to the Fagu, the GOC expects to finish
ratification by the end of January.

- Iceland: Ratification is on the agenda of Parliament's
opening session Janury 20, 2009. The parliamentary process
is expected to take two weeks and be completed at the

beginning of February.

- Luxembourg: The Government has approved the ratification
protocols and sent them to Parliament. No further
information is available.

- Belgium: GOB told the Albanian MFA that from beginning to
end, the ratification process takes about five months. The
Belgian MFA has passed the protocols to the Ministry of
Finance for approval. After MOF approval, the protocols
will be sent to the State Council, and then to Parliament.

- France: The Council of Ministers is still reviewing the
protocols. The Albanian MFA has no further information.

- Greece: All appropriate ministries have approved the
protocols and they have been sent to the Secretary General of
the Government who is preparing a draft bill for Parliament.

ALBANIAN CONCERNS
--------------


4. (C) Fagu related that the GOA is most concerned about
Greece. First and most importantly, the current political
instability there may sideline progress on NATO ratification
and delay it past the April NATO Summit. Second, Greece has
historically used such negotiations to squeeze more
concessions out of Albania (such as on cemeteries for Greek
soldiers in Albania and demarcation of bilateral maritime
borders). However, Fagu believes that after obstructing
Macedonia's NATO accession last year, Greece will not want to
risk more negative press on smaller issues with Albania
(NOTE: Greece and Albania have reached agreement on the
cemetery issue, largely making this a non-issue in terms of
NATO ratification. However, the border demarcation issue
remains outstanding. END NOTE).


5. (C) Fagu stated that the GOA is also concerned about the
slow progress of France and Belgium's ratification. Although
Fagu believes the delays are merely bureaucratic, the
Albanian MFA has not received adequate information,
especially from France.

CRISTINA